Electricity is something most of us in Europe take for granted. When we flick on the light switch, we expect the room to be illuminated. But this is not a reality everywhere in the world.

Nearly 1.3 billion people in Sub- Saharan Africa and developing Asia do not have access to electricity, according to the International Energy Agency. That’s one out of every five people on Earth.

Living without electricity makes daily tasks that we take for granted impossible or extremely difficult. Without generated light, activities like studying, shopping and farming must be undertaken during the limited hours of sunlight.

Giving these people access to energy could transform their lives. Electricity reduces poverty, improves health, increases productivity and improves standards of living. Electricity can also power tools that make daily living more environmentally friendly. Electricity for cooking alleviates the risk from cooking with solid fuels, which is estimated by the World Health Organization to cause over four million premature deaths each year.

Business solutions The problem is that these areas simply do not have the grids to bring power to the people. Schneider Electric, the global specialist in energy management and automation, has decided to make the need for electricity around the world a key part of its business objectives. It launched a program called Access to Energy in 2009. It is developing and implementing technologies to bring low carbon access to electricity to unconnected communities.

“It’s part of the strategy shift that Schneider started in the 2000’s,” says Thomas Andre, business development manager at Access to Energy program. “We’ve embedded the global energy dilemma within the core strategy of the company. In six years, we have contributed to equip 15 million people from the bottom of the pyramid with energy solutions and our objective is to reach 50 million in the next 10 years.”

The program has identified three core areas of focus: designing and delivering electricity distribution systems, managing an “impact” investment fund to help small energy businesses, and training young adults looking to enter the electricity sector.

In the first area, one project launched is solar installation in Kenya. Working with the country’s electrification authority, Schneider is implementing off-grid solar systems at 128 elementary schools in rural regions. The systems provide electricity to four classrooms and one staff room in each school, 24 hours a day. Having these rooms is a lifeline for some of these communities, given that less than a quarter of Kenya’s population has access to electricity.

In the financing arena, Schneider is one of the backers of “Energies pour l’Afrique”(Energies for Africa), a foundation being set up by former French minister of State Jean-Louis Borloo. In collaboration with African heads of state and governments, he is setting up a pan-African energy agency that will focus investments specifically on access to energy, focusing largely on renewables. They hope to award $5 billion in grants each year for 10 years.

“We want energy for all to become a fundamental right for humanity,” says Smaïla Camara, a special adviser to Borloo. “Africa has the biggest potential for renewable energy, and yet they don’t have access to energy. If we can make it happen, it will be far cheaper than when you expand renewables in Germany, for example.”

Policy solutions

Both Schneider and Energies pour l’Afrique believe that policymakers could make their work in this area easier by promoting both centralized layouts and off-grid networks in remote areas as centralized systems don’t reach remote areas. The historic way of organizing energy generation has made connecting rural communities difficult. But new technologies mean that this centralized planning is not sufficient, decentralized systems are also essential to bring access to energy everywhere.

Without light and electricity, there is no development, there is no democracy. – Jean-Louis Borloo, Président, Fondation “Energies pour l’Afrique” (“Energy for Africa”)

“If we look at global and national policies, in Africa and Asia in particular, there has been a small voice, not taken up at official level, that says the old ways of seeing electrification in a centralized way is no longer the sole solution,” says Andre. “It should no longer be only through big power plants from centralized utilities that we get our electricity. The approach we’re looking at is combining the centralized generation with new autonomous methods of generation and distribution.”

Camara says another way in which policymakers can help is by making their climate financing more focused. Last week, French President François Hollande announced €6 billion in investment in electrification for Africa, €2 billion of which will be dedicated to renewables. Camara says that such focused investment is crucial from politicians, and an African energy agency would help focus that investment even more. Also, dimension of investment is key, and small and medium projects must benefit from financial support as well as big projects. “Africans don’t want anymore just to get a pledge, they want something concrete, urgent and immediate,” he says. He notes that while big climate financing instruments like the Green Climate Fund are broad, the agency would be dedicated to only one goal. “Africa needs an agency dedicated to this task,” he says.

This year the agency was unanimously approved by both the African Union, representing governments, and the pan-African parliament, representing citizens. The agency will be headed and run by Africans, for Africans. Schneider Electric stands ready to help not only with financing, but also with implementing the energy projects that will be funded by the agency.

With the right policy and business solutions in place, we may not be very far off from a world where electricity becomes a standard facet of life across the globe, not just in the developed world.